Holidaymakers face flying without their luggage on one of the busiest weekends of the year as baggage handlers suffer a critical shortage of staff, airlines have warned.

Travellers flying from Gatwick this weekend can expect chaotic scenes because Swissport, the baggage handling firm, does not have enough workers to load and unload planes. Two airlines warned that difficulties at the airport could worsen over the next four months because airlines are locked in to contracts with Swissport.

The problem is most acute at weekends because the firm is using staff on zero-hours contracts who do not wish to work anti-social hours, it is claimed.

Airlines using Swissport at Gatwick for baggage handling services include British Airways, Virgin, Monarch, Thomas Cook and Thomson.

The firm is having its contract terminated by at least one airline after it was blamed for failing to load passengers’ bags on to outgoing planes and not returning luggage to those arriving at Gatwick.

Last weekend more than 400,000 passengers passed through Gatwick alone as the school summer holiday rush began. This weekend could be even busier.

On Wednesday some Britons were still abroad without their bags after flying out five days ago. The passengers left Gatwick last weekend, when staff shortages at Swissport also led to passengers having to wait up to four hours for their baggage after landing. Others were sent home to wait days for luggage to be delivered to them.

In some cases holidaymakers missed connecting flights in Europe because of delays loading luggage on to departing planes.

One Team GB Paralympian was stranded for more than four hours at baggage reclaim as he waited for his wheelchair to be returned to him. The delays came after passengers flying into Gatwick earlier this month had to wait up to 90 minutes to reclaim their bags. The airport said the problems were due to “resourcing issues” at Swissport, adding that it had drafted in its own staff to help clear the backlog.

The firm handles baggage at most of Britain’s major airports including Heathrow, Luton, Manchester and Edinburgh.

At Gatwick it has contracts for ground handling services with 27 airlines. However, it has repeatedly failed to deliver baggage within targets which stipulate that in 95 per cent of cases the last bag should be delivered within 55 minutes of a plane’s arrival.

The Telegraph understands that Monarch Airlines, which flies out of Gatwick to over 50 destinations, has notified the Zurich-based firm that its services are no longer required after passengers were sent home without their bags last weekend.

However, Monarch is understood to be unable to pull out of its contract at Gatwick for 120 days – the notice period stipulated by the contract.

Other major airlines at the airport are also understood to be threatening to pull the plug on Swissport. Virgin said they are in discussions with the firm in an effort to improve its performance.

Among the passengers affected by the delays were Richard Sargent, a wheelchair basketball player for Team GB, who was left waiting more than four hours for his wheelchair after returning from a holiday in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Mr Sargent, 23, who landed on a Thomson airlines flight at 1.25am on Sunday, said: “I was left stranded in baggage reclaim.

“I was not asking for special treatment, just to be able to freely move around the terminal and use the toilet.”

Another traveller, who is on holiday in Paphos, Cyprus, has had his suitcase missing for five days. He has been told that BA had to clear a backlog of 1,000 cases.

His wife, who did not want to be named, said: “I would say it has ruined our holiday. The service from BA and Gatwick has been appalling. It’s the lack of communication that is the most frustrating thing.”

A spokesman for Gatwick said: “Gatwick is working closely with its airlines to improve the performance of Swissport in line with the airport’s own high standards of passenger service.”

Swissport, owned by PAI Partners, a French private equity firm, apologised to passengers delayed last weekend, saying the problems were caused by “a level of off schedule activity” – or planes arriving or taking off earlier or later than planned.

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- Have you been affected by airport baggage delays? We'd like to hear from you. Please email tom.brooks-pollock@telegraph.co.uk.